


Moments

by GrumpyJenn



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-08-28
Packaged: 2017-12-23 09:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/924751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyJenn/pseuds/GrumpyJenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yeah, re-watching favorite shows.</p></blockquote>





	1. 101

**Author's Note:**

  * For [steadfast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/steadfast/gifts).



Carter was upset, but she strove not to show it, and O’Neill admired her for that. She knew as well as he did that their... call it mutual attraction... couldn’t be acted upon. Not while they worked together. She hid it well most of the time, possibly better than he did. And he was still mixed up after that hundred days with Laira and her people.

He had been... content, he supposed. But he could never have been more than content.

So he was taken aback when he came across Carter in the locker room late that night. She was sitting sideways with her feet drawn up on a bench, chin on knees, back to the door, and although she made no move, he figured she knew it was him.

“You okay, Carter?”

She did something - maybe wiped her eyes - and said, “Yes, sir. I’m... I’ll be okay. Sir.”

_Dammit. She’s not okay._

“Want to talk about it?” She shook her head, but seemed doubtful, so he sat straddling the bench behind her. “You sure?”

She sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“I...” she took a deep breath. “I’m supposed to be objective, strong. Military. But I thought you were gone for good. I didn’t even know if you had d--” She broke off and he took her by the shoulders, turned her on the bench.

“Major Carter,” he began, and shook his head. Not by rank, not for this. They were friends, too, after all. “ _Sam_. You are one of the most brilliant, strongest people I know, and one of the best officers.” She was looking at him, those enormous wet blue eyes eloquent. “But I don’t expect - _nobody_ expects - you to be made of ice, or the perfect military machine. Got me?”

“Yes, sir.”


	2. Grace

“Jack.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Right, Not Jack then. _Colonel_. She’d better remember that it wasn’t really him she’d…

Never mind. He – or her mind’s image of him – had helped to get her out of there alive.

“Thank you, sir.”

“For what?”

_For everything. For being here. For…_

“Nothing.”

“Think nothing of it. I’ve got plenty of that.”


	3. Support

“Leave her. Now.”

_You’d better do it, because I will not have a member of my team, my… I won’t have it!_

“You won’t.”

_Oh, won’t I? Watch me. Sam’s in there somewhere, and I will not allow you to keep her!_

“You’ve read my file. Think again.”

 

\--/--

 

Sam hated this. With all the bizarre events that went on around here, it took _this_ of all things to make them think she was crazy. One non-corporeal alien is all it took. Even the Colonel… well. He didn’t _say_ it, but she knew that even he thought she had… overdone things, been through too much to cope.

And then Orlin wasn’t quite so non-corporeal anymore; he was solid and real, and they were out to get him. As though he were a threat.

So he ascended again.

And left Sam alone.

Among her friends, but alone.


	4. Content

“Wanna get up?”

Sam shook her head. “Just need to rest for a minute.”

Jack sat beside her. Should he…? Yeah, why not? He’d do it for any _man_ under his command in the same circumstance. “C’mere,” he said, and put his arm around her shoulders.

She leaned into him.

 _Been through so much,_ Jack thought. _And she’s only human, not Jaffa or Tok’ra. Just human.Fragile._

He had begun to hope that after he retired – again – maybe they could’ve… no. She’d pulled away a bit after she got that concussion on the _Prometheus_. He wondered what had happened to her there, then, to make her pull away. Between her and the shrinks, he supposed, but it wasn’t easy to watch.

Not when he wanted… what he wanted. What he had thought _she_ wanted.

But he would sit here with his arm around her, contented, for as long as it took.


	5. Shock

Janet was dead.

It made no sense, none at all. Because Janet wasn’t combat personnel, she was…

…it didn’t matter what she was, because she was _dead_.

And survivor’s guilt was eating Sam up – eating them all up.

Even Teal'c was close to tears most of the time.

Colonel O’Neill – no, for this he was _Jack_ – had held Sam, mourned with her.

The filmmaker, Emmett Bregman, had redeemed himself in the end, though no-one would ever see it but those who had been there.

But the only thing that made Janet’s loss bearable…

…was Senior Airman Simon Wells’ baby.

Janet.


	6. Approval

_Damn Kinsey and his insinuations_ , thought the general. _Now how to explain this? Oh hell, he was in the Air Force; he’ll understand._

“Mr. President,” he began, formally, and was interrupted.

“Look, George, for this it’s just you and me, all right? I need to know if I can trust Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter to behave themselves, or if my Vice-President is just blowing smoke.”

“Sir, I don’t know what they feel for each other. I suspect, but I don’t know." _But I care about those kids,_ he thought, _and I need them to be safe._ "As long as their _behavior_ remains appropriate, I don’t think their feelings are any of my business. Or Vice-President Kinsey’s. Sir.”

The President laughed, and General Hammond relaxed. “That’s good enough for me.”

 _Good,_ thought George Hammond, _because they need each other. Without me there, they need each other more than ever._


	7. Grief

Carter had come to Jack’s place to tell him something important, not knowing that he and Kerry were…

He tried to keep the evening going even after Carter got a call about her dad and left in a rush, those big blue eyes – her only tell – showing him that something was terribly wrong. But Kerry knew better. “Go to h… go to work,” she had said, “I’ll see you later.” She had smiled sadly at him, and he didn’t know why until hours later.

Hours later when she came to his office. And gave him the gentlest, most loving brush off he’d ever received. Or even heard of. “You know,” she said in an almost conversational tone, “There’s just one thing I don’t understand.”

“Just one?”

“Is the Air Force the only thing keeping you two apart?”

 _Yeah, it kind of is,_ he thought as Kerry left the room, _that really is what it boils down to_.

But did it have to? He and Kerry had managed to keep the relationship out of the workplace, and he and Sam could do the same.

If she wanted him. It was a sobering thought that she might not.

In any case, now was not the time, not until after Jacob… after that was resolved. All he could do was be there for her.

Sam was watching her father and the other Tok’ra as Jack sat beside her. “You okay?”

“Actually I’m fine. Good even, strange as that sounds.” Her voice was quiet, and those blue eyes bright with tears, but she did sound fine as she explained that Jacob’s symbiote had brought them closer. She smiled a sad little half-smile.

“C’mere,” he said, and put his arm around her. She might think she was fine – she might even _be_ fine – but she still grabbed his hand like a lifeline, stroking the back of it unconsciously with her thumb.

“Thank you, sir.”

“For what?” Jack could hear how hoarse his voice had become.

“Being here for me.”

“Always.”


	8. Love

“You wanted to see me, sir?”

Jack waved Sam in, indicating she should close the door and sit in the chair across his desk. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. I’ll send it out next week.” He hung up the phone and sat back, blowing air out between pursed lips. “Well.”

“Sir?”

Jack shook his head. “Not after the end of the month. I just resigned as your commanding officer.  They’re moving me to the Pentagon.” She felt her eyes widen as she absorbed the implications, then he continued, softly. “So. I want you to take some time off, Sam. And to see that you do, I’ll drive you home.” He stood, and she did too. “Shall we?”

The night was quiet, and Sam rested her forehead against the cool car window, looking out at nothing. It _had_ been a rough couple of weeks, with Dad and Pete and the superweapon. And the funeral. But Jack had been there for her, and he’d said he would be.

_“Always.”_

“’Scuse me?” Sam lifted her head from the window and smiled at Jack.

“Nothing.” She noticed they had come to a stop, the road at a T.

“Right?” Jack asked her in a neutral tone, “Or left? Your choice.”

Oh. _Oh_.

“Left. _Jack_ ,” she said firmly, and he gave her a quick grin as he turned the car toward his cabin.

 

\--/--

 

“What next?” Sam asked him later, her head tucked under his chin, her body  warm against his side. He couldn’t see her eyes, so he leaned back a little to find her looking up at him.

“Told you,” he said. “Your choice.”

“I’m sure they all know anyway. At least Daniel and Teal’c,” she said, big blue eyes serious. “But we shouldn’t… advertise, even with them.”

Jack smiled down at her. “Don’t ask, don’t tell? Yeah.” _Why the hell did it take us so long,_ he thought, _well… best not to dwell on it._

“It’s only a month or so, before you’re not my commanding officer. General.” She smiled at him, and pulled him down to her, strong arms winding around his neck.

“Like I said, Colonel. Your choice.” _Always…_

 

\--/--

 

“This is great.” It really was, Sam thought. Sometimes she forgot that not everything had to have a goal, that she could just  _be_ , do something mindless just for the relaxation of it. And Jack knew her well enough to make it easy for her.

“I told ya.”

“I can't believe we didn't do this years ago.”

“Yes. Well, let's not dwell.” _Yeah_ , Sam thought, _we really should just… enjoy._ And then she realized something else about mindless relaxation.

“There are no fish in this pond, are there?”

“Nope.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, re-watching favorite shows.


End file.
